Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it.

A lot of my dinners are just run of the mill things and things that don't take too long. More involving meals and/or ones that will take a good amount of time, I plan ahead and try to do them on a day that would be good for me. Also, a lot of times with meals like them, I have to buy certain ingredients to help bring the meal together.

A lot of my dinners are just run of the mill things and things that don't take too long. More involving meals and/or ones that will take a good amount of time, I plan ahead and try to do them on a day that would be good for me. Also, a lot of times with meals like them, I have to buy certain ingredients to help bring the meal together.

I'd double the smoked paprika, though. The recipe doesn't call for very much, and it makes a difference if you use quite a bit. Putting butter in with the paprika-coated chicken while it cooks also helps get it a lovely golden color and the taste is amazing.

I'd double the smoked paprika, though. The recipe doesn't call for very much, and it makes a difference if you use quite a bit. Putting butter in with the paprika-coated chicken while it cooks also helps get it a lovely golden color and the taste is amazing.

It does sound good. There are many dishes I want to try in the coming months. In a food thread from another forum, someone posted a rough write up of a recipe for pochero, a Filipino dish with stewed meat and vegetables and plantains. Here is the version he was taught by a family member:

Well ... I got inspired again and attempted to throw together a Japanese cuisine stye meal for over 20 people. Had 3 other people helping me with the food preparation over the course of two days, and each of us probably spent a total of 8 total hours each in preparation. Man.... -_-

My first time ever, but I absolutely enjoyed every step of it.

What did I make?

1. Onigiri - rice balls with umeboshi, a strip of nori and nori/toasted sesame seed seasoning sprinkled on the outside.

2. Miso soup - solely a veggie based stock of "julianed" mushrooms, celery, grated carrots and wakami, then add the miso (I used brown rice based miso) and before serving add a sprinkling of chopped scallions and teeny tofu cubes.

4. "Sushi rolls" - no meat in them per se, only veggie content. Made close to 90 of them. So exhausting.

5. Shrimp, Clams (whole feet), and Squid tentacles (all cooked, of course) ... so sad I could not find pre-prepared bbq'd eel and octopus (my fave). We arranged the "sushi rolls" all in the middle of the plate and the various seafood meats around the outside of the plate. I decided to have people simply put a piece of the meat on top of the roll if they wanted rather than making a separate "finger" of rice, place the meat on top and then wrap it together into one whole with a piece of nori.

10. Sweet Bean filled Mochi on top of which I placed a sakura flower that was still wet from the rain (so it stayed stuck to the mochi).

11. A small glass of sake lightly flavored with "melon" (?) ... that's what the bottle said. We heated the sake up and it tasted a little like plums to me, but oh well.

Annddd ... I think that's it. :\

It was totally exhausting but it tasted absolutely delicious and everyone really liked it.

Maybe I should mention that although I am fully American (i.e. white and non-Asian) I grew up with parents who cooked according the macrobiotic system of food analyzing and preparation (as my dad has tons of food allergies). So I had the opportunity to be exposed to LOTS of Japanese and Chinese cuisine ... I even used to bring umeboshi filled, nori wrapped onigiri to elementary school in a lunch box - I kid you not.

So anyway for me being able to prepare this meal was a little nostalgic for me as well ... I am already a fan of Japanese culture and the like, so all this made it extra special in a way.

I tell ya though ... I got LOADS of respect for those folks that prepare such food every day now. The wife of the family I stayed with in Japan when I visited for a month in April of 2010 used to make this kind of home made stuff for me EVERY ... SINGLE ... DAY. I have a whole 'nother level of respect for her now. Man. Talk about time consuming!

I don't cook very well
but I bake all the time. My friend and I made rainbow cake today.
I'll post a pic when I can get it uploaded from my phone.
Here's the recipe: it pretty much looks like that except not as clean http://www.marthastewart.com/256688/rainbow-cake

I don't cook very well
but I bake all the time. My friend and I made rainbow cake today.
I'll post a pic when I can get it uploaded from my phone.
Here's the recipe: it pretty much looks like that except not as clean http://www.marthastewart.com/256688/rainbow-cake

just opposite of me, I cook everyday, but until now I have yet to bake a single cake.
Maybe because I don't really like sweet stuff

just opposite of me, I cook everyday, but until now I have yet to bake a single cake.
Maybe because I don't really like sweet stuff

The same with me. I am not a candy person, although I do enjoy a good made cake once in a while.

The issue with baking is, that unlike cooking, you cant improvise as easily. Baking is a far more accurate science than cooking. If you dont mix the ingredients in the right manner, it wont come out right.... sometimes you fail even if you follow the recipe to the letter.

Also, is it just me, or do you guys alos get "full" just by inhaling the sweet smell? I mean, on the rare occations that I do bake something (such as xmas cookies or bday cakes) I pretty much never touch it afterwards. My head is spinning from all that sweet smell and the idea of eating it repulses me. So if I ever bake anything for my loved ones, it is indeed just for them.

Also, is it just me, or do you guys alos get "full" just by inhaling the sweet smell? I mean, on the rare occations that I do bake something (such as xmas cookies or bday cakes) I pretty much never touch it afterwards. My head is spinning from all that sweet smell and the idea of eating it repulses me. So if I ever bake anything for my loved ones, it is indeed just for them.

I do, it makes me not want to eat it just my smelling it. I never liked sweets. The only thing I like are chocolates, MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAINS OF CHOCOLATE!!! >: O

But it has to be dark semi-sweetened chocolate.

Only cake I've made was cheese cake, the amount of sweetening you have to put in it makes my legs quiver.

Today I finally had the necessary discipline to take photos of what I cook. Usually, the way it works is, that I start cooking and get so absorbed in the task that I totally forget about the original intention of making a step by step of it with pictures.

Todays menu was: Chicken skewers with tabboulah salad:

Preparation and ingredients:

Marinade for the chicken:

1. A shot of olive oil
2. Juice of one lemon
3. generous ammount of honey (the marinade should be sweet and sour)
4. teaspoon of french mustard
5. One minced garlic clove
6. salt and pepper
7. Corn starch

Whisk the ingredients together until they combine and set aside. Cut 2 chicken breasts in about 1,5 inch sized pieces. Try to make the cubes equally large. Mix with the chicken with the marinade in a bowl, cover with foil and put into the fridge for at least 2 hours, but the longer the better.

In the meantime, prepare the rest of the ingredients for the skewers. You will need half an onion and 2 peppers. As for the peppers, you can work with bell peppers, if your supermarket has no other, but it is much easier to use the pointed peppers, simply because they tend to be more flat. Bell peppers have a round shape and as such, it is difficult to cut flat squares ouf of them. As for the onion, you cut it in half and then carefully seperate the layers. Then you proceed to cut squares from both the onion and the peppers. Keep in mind that the squares should be smaller than the chicken pieces. The reason for this is, that if the pepper pieces are bigger then the meat wont have contact with the frying pan during cooking and it wont cook properly, aka it wont turn golden and will be raw inside.

After the chicken marinaded in the fridge, you mix corn starch into the marinade to make it thicker. This will add a delicious coat to the chicken pieces when fried. You can put the prepared skewers back into the fridge, while you prepare the salad:

And now for the tabbouleh salad.

The origin of this very tasty salad is the middle east and it is a VERY refreshing salad for the hot summer days. You will need the following ingredients:

1. Tomatoes
2. spring onion, parsley (loads of it, the more the better, be generous), a few mint leaves, basil or corriander leaves
3. one lemon
4. Olive oil
5. salt and pepper
6. a small bowl of cooked couscous, quinoa or bulghur. Couscous and bulghur are wheat products, you should be able to find it in any bigger supermarket. Dont feel discouraged if you dont know it. The same goes for the non wheat quinoa. If you really dont like the idea, you can substitute with some fine pasta. I used couscous in my recipe.

When preparing the tabbouleh salad, keep in mind, that you should combine the ingredients directly before serving, because otherwise it gets soggy. Also, when you cut the tomatoes, strain them, you dont want any extra liquid in the salad other than the lemon juice and olive oil.

The preparation is relatively easy:

1. Cut the tomatos and strain them, put them into a bowl. Cut the spring onion is super thin slices and add it to the tomatoes and do the same with parsley, mint leaves and corriander leaves (alternatively basil). If you dont like mint, dont worry about it. The salad is literally a taste explosion and the mint is just a small taste foot note in the background.

It can go like this into the fridge, until you are ready to serve the salad. Do not mix beforehand, if you want it to be fresh and have a bite!

Last step is frying the skewers..... nice and slow, keep turning them, so they dont turn black. You have to be careful because of the honey and corn starch added to the marinade, it burns relatively easy. Enjoy!!!

Btw, this recipe is also perfect for BBQ days. Instead of frying the skewers in a pan, throw them on the grill. But be even more careful with not burning them